Originally posted by Reverend J ShaftThey can still go further up the card with the Boogeyman, but the clock is ticking on the gimmick.

GAH! Are you kidding?

All right, I'm not much for 'fantasy booking', but think about this...

Let The Boogeyman beat Booker T. Booker's not gonna lose any heat because of this because, as all of you keep saying, he's a joke wrestler with a joke gimmick.

Ok, as his gimmick stands now, I'm with you, but I'd love for them to modify it, and turn him into an unstoppable force of nature!

...yes, I am insane.

Here's how you do it.

Next week on SMACKDOWN, have Booker T and Sharmell complaining to Teddy Long about having to work with a 'failed television actor. Say that it's not safe working with a guy who doesn't even belong in the business. Shit, let JBL chime in and say that even though he was also beaten by the 'UPN reject' he also doesn't think The Boogeyman belongs in the ring either. Have Teddy Long say he'll take it under advisement.

Later in the show, have Teddy Long talking to the 'UPN Network guy' about The Boogeyman. Have the Network guy (What was his name again, I forgot damnit!) claim that "That's not the Boogeyman. I've been meaning to tell you this, but since he's doing so well, I figured that it wouldn't matter, but the guy from our failed pilot, the guy who was playing 'The Boogeyman'... isn't the same guy you got running around here eating the worms and doing the clock thing; but he IS entertaining, so you should keep him." Teddy Long, Booker and Sharmell, and JBL should have shocked looks on their faces at this information.

Let this stew for a couple weeks. Don't have the Boogeyman explain anything. Just let him keep eating worms and feed him lower and mid-carders. Get him some in ring experience. I admit, he REALLY needs it.

Finally, at the next SMACKDOWN brand PPV, have it set up for a tag match with Booker T and JBL against The Boogeyman and anyone else who'll tag with him. Have it where NO ONE wants ANYTHING to do with him. At the last minute, the Undertaker comes out and tags with him, helping him win. After the match, have some spooky shenanigans with some smoke or the ring catching on fire, but it's The Boogeyman doing the 'mystical/ not believable' stuff, and not the Undertaker.

On the next SMACKDOWN, Have the Undertaker finally get an answer out of The Boogeyman, as to who... or WHAT he really is. Here's where I think this can really make or break the storyline, depending on how the fans accept it. Let him claim to REALLY BE 'The Boogeyman'. Why not? We accept the Undertaker as a reanimated corpse. We accept Eddie's spirit guiding Rey to win the ROYAL RUMBLE. We accept a lot of stupid shit, why not accept that this guy's REALLY 'The Boogeyman'.

Have him tag with the Undertaker for a few months. Give them the belts, but slowly hint at distention between the two after a while. How COULD two 'unstoppable forces of nature' really work together without one or the other think they're better then the other one. You have the Undertaker who'd the undead master of the ring and you have The Boogeyman who's the embodiment of everything we're supposed to be afraid of... even death.

I imagine this going on up till next year's WRESTLEMANIA where the Undertaker FINALLY loses... to The Boogeyman.

Now you see, there's so many different things you can do after that. You could obviously set him up in a feud against Kane. You can set him up against pretty much ANYONE who's fought the Undertaker I suppose. You can move him over to RAW for a whole bunch of new matches for a couple years till he's done with.

Seriously people, this gimmick could be golden, if done the right way. Look at how the Undertaker and Kane have survived shitty gimmicks over the years. The same with Mick Foley. What's REALLY the difference between eating worms and pulling out your own hair?

This will be the only WrestleMania that will ever feature the Boogeyman character. If he is still around next year at this time it's going to be in the lower tier at best. It's kind of like if Damian Demento got a push. I imagine he will have to feud with the Undertaker soon.

The best thing about Boogeyman is that if the character gets too ridiculous (i.e. not over), he can easily be fed to Undertaker and either repackaged as Marty Wright or just released. Wright may be an awful wrestler, but I must admit he's made a really effective and over character out of what looked to be a joke a few months ago.

"He looks like a perverted roofer who knocks off early on warm spring days to drink beer and ogle teenage girls at the river, but wrestles like a man who actually cares about his job."---DVDVR's Raven Mack on "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray

Originally posted by CerebusI imagine this going on up till next year's WRESTLEMANIA where the Undertaker FINALLY loses... to The Boogeyman.

Whatever you're taking, you need to up the dosage. Undertaker is crazy serious about that undefeated streak. It's what makes him a legend. He'll never have 453 title reigns like Hunter, or be a techincal whiz like Bret Hart, or be able to have a good match with literally anyone, like Flair.

Vince tells him to lose to The Boogeyman at WrestleMania, I'd bet you double or nothing on my student loan balance he walks away.

Marty Wright is 42 years old and a terrible wrestler. If you're gonna give all that Undertaker-based rub to someone, it should be a guy who's got more than two years left in them and who may have a mocidum of wrestling ability to show off. 'Taker didn't just get where he is on the bells and whistles alone-he's one of the best big men the modern era's seen.

(edited by oldschoolhero on 31.3.06 0030)To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires, and lights, in a box.-Edward R. Murrow

Originally posted by CerebusI imagine this going on up till next year's WRESTLEMANIA where the Undertaker FINALLY loses... to The Boogeyman.

Whatever you're taking, you need to up the dosage. Undertaker is crazy serious about that undefeated streak. It's what makes him a legend. He'll never have 453 title reigns like Hunter, or be a techincal whiz like Bret Hart, or be able to have a good match with literally anyone, like Flair.

Vince tells him to lose to The Boogeyman at WrestleMania, I'd bet you double or nothing on my student loan balance he walks away.

It's not Taker that likes that undefeated streak, it's Vince. He's proud of what's probably his greatest gimmick creation and there's no way at this point that anyone's going to beat him at WM ever. For everyone who claims that it's Taker's ego that keeps him from losing at Wrestlemania, it's more Vince's than anything to do with Taker.

After fighting off everyone and never decisively losing a match in any feud, Taker got pinned for the first time on PPV by fucking Mabel because Vince wanted him to. If there's one guy on the roster whose ego I'm not worried about, it's The Undertaker's.

And Taker does seem to have a good match with almost everyone. He's brought out the best in Hart, Orton and Angle, as well as guys like The Big Show. There's a few guys that he's had train wreck matches with, but if his gimmick didn't involve him wrestling the freaks of the business the list of opponents he's had great matches with would be much longer than the list of train wrecks. I don't care how good Flair used to be, stick him with Giant Gonzales in an ape suit and Kamala/Bundy 176 out of their prime and he'd have shitty matches too.

I keep waiting for this gimmick to bomb out, and yet almost every house show report I read has the Boogeyman getting one of the biggest pops of the show. I have a hard time believing it myself, after the mostly apathetic reaction I saw him get at the Royal Rumble. But as long as it keeps working, go full board with it. I will only have to see him on joint-brand PPV's anyways (I don't watch SD usually).

Boogeyman is that time-honored tradition in rasslin: the silly spectacle. He doesn't need to do anything other than squash jobbers and tease a title run. Same with Paul Burchill's pirate gimmick and the Mexicools' Juan Deer entrance. Once you start to make the gimmick logical, you kill the fun.

If they had simply kept Rikishi as a dancing Samoan who shoved his ass in faces and occassionally landed the Fire Thunder Driver, he could have been the greatest spectacle since Andre. He didn't need pathos, titles, or the urge to run down Austin.

Undertaker is the best exception to the rule, but he arrived during the more cartoony era, and thus was as legit a character as everyone else.